Report: Domestic-abuse Rates Higher In Military

OTHER NEWS TO NOTE - NORTHEAST

January 18, 1999

NEW YORK - The rate of spousal abuse in the U.S. military is significantly higher than the national average, and the military routinely fails to punish service members convicted of even extreme cases of domestic violence, 60 Minutes reported Sunday. The CBS television program reviewed Pentagon records from 1992 through 1996 and found that 50,000 military spouses were victims of domestic violence, five times higher than the civilian population when compared with Department of Justice records for the same five years. Less than 5 percent of the accused were court-martialed, according to the Pentagon.